I am delighted to take part in the blog tour for The Secret Detective Agency by Helena Dixon, the first in a brand new cosy crime series.
Cosy crime has a ring to it doesn’t it. It makes it seem gentle and friendly but I think this ‘genre’ can, at times, be undervalued. I love a good mystery. I love a good puzzle and the latest thirst for this type of mystery, both in the printed novel and on our televisions, I believe, is an antidote to the all too real horrors that seem to be part of a very sad reality we are now living with. Books are important. They help us escape as well as to keep us informed. Now, if it is pure escapism with a dash of the villain getting their comeuppance, then The Secret Detective Agency, may just be a good fit.
The first in what I hope will be an intriguing series, The Secret Detective Agency, sees Miss Jane Treen and Arthur Cilento thrown together to investigate when a woman’s body is discovered in suspicious circumstances on Arthur’s country estate. The dead woman is know to Jane and the top-secret agency that she works for in the early dark days of the Second World War. Espionage and homicide often go hand in hand and it is imperative that they find the culprit before more agents are lost. Could there be a leak in the agency? Someone who is working with the enemy to target their spies, or is the killer even closer to home? These are dangerous times and everyone is under suspicion as things become deadly for Jane and Arthur as they come closer to the truth of why this woman had to die.
I did take a little while for me to warm to Jane in some ways. Her constant cigarette lighting was a little irritating but I could see the tension that it added to the relationship between her and Arthur. I hope that won’t need to continue too much in the next book. She did highlight the often important and dangerous jobs that women often held during the War and the difficulty they had with those who were less enthusiastic about women taking on more senior roles in a very male dominated world. By the end of the book I liked both her and Arthur very much and look forward to reading the next in the series, The Seaside Murders, which is due to be published at the end of April.
Synopsis
Meet Miss Jane Treen – the coffee-drinking cat lover dressed head to toe in tweed, who just happens to be a secret super sleuth!
London, 1941: Miss Jane Treen is at her desk, strong black coffee in hand and fluffy ginger cat by her side, when her top-secret government work is interrupted by an urgent call to Devon. A woman has been found dead in a lake in a place where she shouldn’t have been. Jane needs to gather the clues and find the killer before someone else from the agency gets hurt…
Shy and handsome code-breaker Arthur Cilento is bewildered by the arrival of the efficient Miss Treen and her cat Marmaduke. She bursts into his life unexpectedly, forcing him out of his comfort zone. The reluctant colleagues huddle near the warmth of a crackling fire in Arthur’s country home, working to piece together the murderous puzzle at hand.
In the sleepy Devon village, someone is hiding something: but is it the busybody vicar and his sister, the dutiful housekeeper and her secretive son, the stern librarian, or someone else altogether? And who were the people with the woman in the lake on the day she died?
No sooner have Arthur and Jane have drawn up a list of suspects, than a parcel reveals a clue that sends them in hot pursuit of a coded diary stashed in a village church. But as the heavy wooden door slams behind them and a key turns in the lock, one thing is sure: they need to unravel the truth and crack this code before the killer decides their number is up…
But if they can catch the culprit in time, might this unusual pair become the finest crime-solving partnership since Holmes and Watson hung up their hats…?
If you love twisty crime novels, top-secret intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Helena Dixon’s totally gripping cozy novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T E Kinsey and Verity Bright!
The Secret Detective Agency was published on March 27th 2025, and it available in paperback (ISBN: 9781836181057), eBook and on Audiobook.
Author Bio
Helena Dixon is the author of the best-selling Miss Underhay murder mystery series and lives in Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon.
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Buy Link:
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Thank you to Sarah at Bookouture for inviting me to read and review this book and of introducing me to a new author. Always a pleasure!
Thank you also to you the reader, for taking the time to visit today. May your days and nights always be filled with books and the joy of reading. Happy reading!
Tales Before Bedtime 